Not So Important
by Taigon Shikkin
Summary: Riv was a pretty normal girl. Except she wasn't, because the prodigy mechanic, best friend and body guard to princess of Skyryn, and daughter of the Royal Archivist just got thrown into another world with elves, dwarves, magical evil rings, and talking animals. To think having copper hair and keeping her spot in the garage used to be her biggest problems. Rating might change!
1. I get ran over by being late

(Edited 7/5/17(My dog's ninth birthday))

Character Name Pronounced

Jaems (James)

Laily (Lie-ly)

Malinye (Mal-in-yay)

Renaeger (Rin-ay-ger)

Nathien (Nay-thee-in)

Gaiad (Guy-ee-ad)

Skyryn (Sky-rin, no not Skyrim)

Maenia (My-en-ya)

* * *

 **I get ran over by being late**

Riv was bent over the front of the damaged hoverer as the engine smoked, her legs dangling since her toes didn't touch the floor. Her screwdriver was clutched tightly as she tightened a few bolts, bunched up muscles slightly burning with the repeated movement of her arm.

Finally, she was finished. Wiping her brow with the back of her dirty leather gloves, Riv heaved her small body out of the small space and touched her toes down on the garage's concrete floor once more. Jumping up, she grabbed the hood and slammed it down into place. Riv pressed down on the hood to make sure it clicked, the sound of the hood locking back into place.

The hoverer needed a simple fix, just a corroded starter and worn belt. A new belt and starter and a few screws later it was all done. Unfortunately, her short stature made it take a bit more time than usual, because this model's starter and belt was so hard to get to being so short. Riv blew back a strand of her copper bangs that came loose from the braides on the side of her head, woven into a messy bun and a fountain of red orange hair at the back of her head.

The fiery hair color was rare, if not almost unheard of, among the Highlings. Highlings often sported fair blond or dark raven hair. Brunette was fairly common as well, but not so much as blond and raven. Red was usually associated with the Gaiads, or Grounders as they were commonly called, a race of people that were bound to the land. But that's why her hair was so weird, Grounders were extinct, or so it was assumed from history.

Looking at her distorted reflection in the hoverer's metal hood, Riv could spot a long streak of grease across her forehead and along her cheek. Her lavender eyes reflected back a mixed color of cyan in the light metalic blue paint job. Reaching her hand back, Riv popped her neck, feeling and hearing the satisfying crack in turn. She had to cock her head at an interesting angle to see what she had been doing.

It was hard being a female mechanic. Having to deal with the stares and whispers, the scathing comments for not thinking of her status as the Royal Archivist's only daughter, and so much more. While most lower and middle class-along with a handful of high class- women worked, the rich ones did nothing but play and gossip about the latest trends or who said what to whom. It was immensely frustrating to deal with shallow women all the time since she lived in the castle with her Appa.

A fond smile tugged at her lips at the thought of her Appa, Jaems Rivetz. He was a kind man who had been a widow when he had taken her in as a baby. He had fed her, clothed her, and educated her, giving her a curiosity and love for reading many of higher classed ladies lacked. As she had access to the library and private library of the castle, she had grown to be a young prodigy, who knew a lot about many things.

However, nothing had interested her more than mechanics and engineering. Riv had always been good with her hands and creating stuff, almost uncannily good. She had even patented a few pieces of her work, gaining her recognition from the Young Engineers Association that constantly badgered her to join.

But she didn't have the time for it. She had a part time job at Guily's Garage, a high class maintenance garage that took exorbitant amounts of money for their work. It was dull work and the other mechanics were pretty rude and disgustingly competitive for their "place" in the garage. Riv stowed her tools away in her utility belt before she clapped her hands to rid them of any dirt.

"All good, Marley! Take her away!" Riv shouted over the loud sounds of metal clanging around things.

A tall tan man, came up with the keys and sidled into the hoverer to start her up. The man had dark brown hair, almost raven paired with blue eyes. He was a pretty quiet guy and wasn't as competitive as the other guys around the shop, so they got along fairly well. Riv let out a sigh of relief, her shift finally over. Groaning, she stretched her arms up over her head to let her spine pop back into place. The teen-turned-woman walked over to her work station desk and grabbed a white card, a bit grimy with blackened fingerprints around the edges.

She unclipped her work utility belt and laid it in drawer of the desk and locked it up tight. She wouldn't put it past one of her competitive "colleagues" to mess with it to make her look bad. Riv walked away, pulling on her gloves, the dark brown leather smeared with grease and stains she had never been able to remove. Her dark wash jeans only slightly less dirty than her gloves, not showing it's numerous stains, unlike her white work shirt. Her old brown work boots scuffed the floor as she headed into the locker rooms where her stuff was kept.

As she walked through the room, many envious sneers and twisted faces watched for all that they were ignored. Riv was so used to them by now it didn't bother her. She had gotten used to the jealous and venomous looks a long time ago.

Riv opened the door to the locker room a bit more forcefully than normal, peeved by the staring and whispering going on behind her back. While she tolerated the prejudiced atmosphere directed at her, she absolutely _**hated**_ the whispering. It followed her everywhere except her quarters with her Appa and her lab.

Riv quickly slotted her time card into the time scanner and pulled it out when it beeped. She took it back to her locker and set the card behind her on the bench to unlock it. Reaching in, She grabbed her faded orange and black shoulder bag with a cartoony fox holding a wrench in its teeth grinning out at the world on it.

It was a gift from Appa when she turned thirteen and it had held up for the six years she had been using it, even still in good condition. The copper haired girl grabbed the thick canvas belt that had been under the bag and clipped it on, hooking it through a couple of her belt loops.

The belt was her own personal utility belt and she never went anywhere without it. The black belt had large pouches attached to the back with smaller ones along the sides. It too had the fox with the wrench on it, but it was a large metal applique she had put on it in her early teen years. But that wasn't the most interesting thing about it. Riv had taken one of the only skirts she would ever wear and tailored it to the belt, to where it looked like she was wearing half a skirt. It was a burnt orange to match her copper colored hair.

Grabbing the last thing in her locker, Riv walked out into the front of the shop, some of the customers giving her curious looks while the others were too occupied by their holo-frames to even look up. She tugged on her gloves again before slinging her shoulder bag over her small torso, rifling through her bags to grab a little round ball with a button out of her back pouch.

The teen strode out of the shop to stand on the streets, that contrasted greatly from one another. On the side she was standing on was clean, neat, and had very nice buildings, colors popping. However, the other side of the street was grimy, dank, and the buildings looked as if they were sagging in depression, swathed in tones of grey.

Riv gave some of the people who were huddling around cans of fire a sympathetic look, knowing that it could have been her had her Appa not adopted her. She quickly quelled the feeling, as these people were proud of who they were and didn't want nor need her pity. It was simply another day of their lives they went through.

Her thumb pressed the button on top of the capsule and threw it up into the air. It let out a hiss before it popped in a cloud of smoke, a board dropping down from the pink tinged smoke. She had never been able to get that out of the cloud, so it was stuck as a pink poof of smoke. The used capsule innocently plopped down on sidewalk after its use, laying there like it hadn't just poofed a hoverboard into existence.

The orange haired teen stooped down to pick it up from the concrete and stowed it back into its pouch. Riv stepped onto the board and her switched on from her weight, the bottom glowing blue as it lifted away from the ground with a gentle growl. Riv pulled on the goggles she had snatched from her locker, being the final piece of her ensemble. They had lavender rims and purple tinted glass that made her eyes stand out, and she had crafted a pair of fox ears that decorated the upper rims. Riv made a mental note of her holo-frame's battery level as she turned on some of her "ancient" music as the ladies of the court called it and put her ear phones in.

She tipped her weight backwards slightly to give it a little juice. The board started to move forward slowly at first, but finally picking up pace to about 17 miles a hour. Pretty slow compared to the hoverers zipping past her doing at least 30, but considering hoverboards weren't even made to go over 6 miles per hour, it was hauling ass. She could go faster, but she drew enough attention with her copperish hair color as it was.

The street sides flew past her in a blur, Green Day's _Holiday_ ringing through her ears as she quickly turned a corner, leaning into the curve. This had always been relaxing to her, the stress of the day just melting away as she felt the rush of wind whipping her hair around, the braided piece of her bangs with the beads flying back like a flag, and the rush of moving fast. Soon the towering castle came into view, a sight to behold.

As tiring it was to live there sometimes, it never failed to take her breath away. Tall walls made of white and silver stone mixed with metal to give it a shimmer and defense, but not to be too much. The entire palace was made of it, except the windows of course, but even those were sparkling clean. It was the crown jewel of Skyerin, the floating capital of Maenia Kingdom.

The drawbridge was still down as it closed at 8 o'clock sharp and opened around 6 o'clock in the morning. Riv glanced at the sun's position, it was around 7:15 probably, so she still had time. The guards simply watched as the teen sped in through the gates, unfazed as they continued watching over the bridge for anything suspicious. They had become used to watching a blue and orange blur speed past them into the castle square.

She slowed to a stop by the stairs of the front door, hopping off the board as it powered down. Riv knelt down and grabbed the silver and white board, reaching into her bag for it's capsule. Upon grabbing it, Riv pressed the button on it and held it to the board. The capsule glowed bright white blue, it's light growing to envelope the board. The board's visible outline shrunk to that of the capsule and then it stop glowing, leaving only the little sphere in her palm.

Pocketing it, Riv walked up the stairs with one hand on the strap of her bag. She skipped through the main entrance hall, sidestepping the maids that were bustling about to get there chores for the day done. Taking a right down the second hall, the young woman sped up past the library, to her and her father's quarters just down the hall. Her gloved hand turned the long brass handle of the wooden door to the room and opened the door to walk in.

The quarters were semi-large with two bedrooms, a study, and a large sitting room, walls lined with full and cluttered bookshelves. As big as it was, the room felt small and homey with the hearth roaring with life. The sitting room had a heavy wooden coffee table surrounded by plush purple chairs and a loveseat. The coffee table was littered with books of all kinds and gears and gadgets from her tinkering.

In the evening her Appa would relax in one of the chairs with a good book he had found whilst doing his job, and she would give silent company by sitting on the floor, legs crossed, and working on her newest toy. It was their daily ritual, as they never crossed paths during the day very often.

Riv unhung her bag from her shoulders and dropped it carelessly on the loveseat. She strode to her room quickly to change out of her work ensemble and into her comfy short overalls, hastily replacing the utility belt to it's place when she finished.

She did a double take at her appearance in the small mirror on her desk vanity. She didn't think she had gotten that much grease on her. She ran and grabbed a wet cloth she used to clean grease off of her desk, and while it probably left more smudges than lifted the oily substance, it was better than nothing. Throwing the rag in a random direction, she went back to the living room.

"Appa? You here?" she called out from her spot as she navigated the piles of books around the room.

There was crash in her father's study and she picked up her pace, before pulling herself through the doorway in worry. Her Appa was sitting sprawled out on the ground an open book on his head, knocking his wire frame glasses askew, the rest piled around the floor and in his lap. A stool was knocked over by the bookshelf as he must have been trying to climb to reach something.

"Welcome home, Rever." Her father smiled sheepishly at his daughter, grabbing the book from his head. "Oh, hey, I've been looking for this." Jaems said as he looked at the book he had removed from his head.

Riv slumped against the door jam in fond exasperation, before striding over to help him off the ground. "Are you alright, Appa?"

Back on his feet, the archivist brushed off his brown jacket and slacks, righting his glasses on his face. "I'm perfect, my dear. No harm done. Now where did that other one go?" The older man looked around his feet in the mess of books that had fallen from him. "Ah ha! There it is." Jaems bent down and picked up a book with a green cover, pages faded yellow and looked soft to the touch. It had a great silver tree on the front, looking to be embroidered into the cover.

Hands on her hips Riv asked, "So what's the book for?"

Jaems looked up from running his finger down the spine to check it. "Oh, Laily asked me for it. She was wanting a good story to read. I figured something of fantasy would interest her."

Riv perked up at the name of her best friend, Laily. Laily was the second princess of the Queen and King, her brother Kenry being crown prince and first borne. Though he was a bit of a prick in her eyes.

Laily was different from the other noble ladies and not because she was second highest lady in the court. She was the perfect lady in the eyes of the kingdom, fair, intelligent, and kind. Laily was the most well liked and sought after to every citizen. However, they didn't know her like Riv did. The raven haired princess had befriended her at a young age when the court ladies were snickering at her behind her back.

Riv had been taking nobility lessons, as was mandatory for a girl her age and status. While she excelled in her lessons, Riv's attentions were in mechanics and engineering, bored with learning ethics and politics. She sat away from the others as she was often belittled for the clothes she wore and the constant grease stained gloves.

Back then the words and looks hurt even if she didn't show it. Laily was her saving grace. The princess had a weak and frail body in her youth as she was prematurely born, so she started lessons later than the rest of the class.

Laily was instantly popular. Most wanted to be her friend out of her high status. The princess was mild in temperament and was very intelligent already, so that helped it along as well.

One day the girls had been gossiping about her right behind her during tea break. She had steeled her heart and ignored them, gloved hands clenching around her screwdriver belying her hurt. They were laughing at her behind their hands and she hunched in further towards her project.

All of a sudden the chair next to her was pulled out and two cups of tea were placed down beside her. Riv looked up in surprise to see the raven haired princess sit down next to her.

"Hello, your Mi-" Laily was interrupted quickly by a flushed Riv.

"Riv or Rivetz please. I-I don't like my name. It's - it's too girly for someone like me. A tomboy, I mean." Riv muttered the last part quietly, realising how that could sound to someone who didn't know her and afraid of being judged again.

The young girl's hands were in her lap, wrinkles in the leather where her hands were clenched around her little gadget. She couldn't see Laily's face from here so she didn't know what the princess thought of her.

"Oh, sorry. Riv then." The raven haired girl's voice rang with sincere apology. That made Riv start. She wasn't expecting an apology.

"So then, Riv, what are you making? I've seen you with that particular project for a while now." Another surprise. Riv looked up quickly once more at the princess's delicate face, an expression of curiosity overtaking it, though still polite.

Riv was hesitant at that. No one had really been interested in her tinkering before, but then again, she doubted the princess was cruel enough to mock her for it. She had been polite and even kind up til now.

Riv gently held out the little necklace she had been working on. It was crude, shaped like a star and the metal a bit of tarnished brass scrap she had found laying around. Vines curled around the edges of the front, while it was missing the back, showing of the tiny little gears.

"It's a locket. I was trying to calibrate the video card in it so I could- Oh well, let me show you." Riv could see the slight confusion around Laily's eyebrows, so she cut off her scientific ramble to just show her.

Riv grabbed the wind up key from in front of her and slotted it into a small hole on the back of the star and gently twirled it in place. The key clicked and the front case of the star opened revealing a small camera inside.

It projected two figures, a beautifully dressed woman and a handsome man in masquerade dancing through the air as a hologram. The key started turning and a soft lullaby started playing along with the dancers. Laily's face became one of absolute wonder as she watched the two dancers, obviously in love, slowly waltz about the air above the locket.

The music stopped and dancers disappeared, the case of the star shutting closed without a sound. "Oh wow. That was beautiful. Did you make that all by yourself?"

Riv nodded shyly, unfamiliar with other people praising her work other than her Appa. She looked upon the princess's face still with an enchanted look on her face as she gazed at the locket in Riv's gloved hand, parts of the metal gleaming in the light. She looked so delighted and she had been so kind…

Reaching into her overall pocket on her chest, Riv pulled out a small gold chain and laced the locket and wind up key onto it. She clasped the two sides together and held it out to Laily, who gave her an astonished look. "Here, you can have it. I-I know it's not expensive or very pretty, like what the others give you, but I'd l-like you to have it." The raven haired girl softly took the necklace from her hand and gazed at it with happy eyes.

Laily unclasped it and put it on around her neck. She pulled her long hair out of the chain and grabbed the pendant to look at it in her hand. Riv was a bit uncomfortable with the silence and squirmed in her chair unlady-like. She was startled though when Laily threw her arms around her neck.

Unsure of what to do, Riv hesitantly placed her hands around her shoulders and hugged back. "Thank you. No one's ever given me something like this before." Laily whispered in her ear.

She leaned back into her chair and Riv gave her a questioning expression. "But I thought Mitsy gave you that emerald studded necklace just earlier this week?"

The princess snorted lightly and leaned in conspiringly. "They only do that to impress me. Their only after my status. But you on the other hand, made this yourself. I've seen you working on it every chance you get for the last week and a half. Not to mention, you obviously don't care about status with how you avoid the twitter and gossip the other girls live for." She glanced either way before continuing, leaning forward with a hand on one side of mouth and conspiratorily whispering,"Between you and me, I don't give much thought to status, truthfully."

That was a weird thought, a princess not caring about their social status? That was like the maids not gossiping every chance they got. But it made Riv give a jingly giggle, before she covered her mouth and flushed red. She hated her girly laugh, it made her sound "cute" as her Appa had said before. Laily laughed at her new friend's reaction to her laugh, guessing why she blushed. "Aww, you have such a cute laugh. It's not like the fake grating ones I hear from the to-be-ladies in waiting." She said slyly, watching as Riv turned a more vivid red from embarrassment and containing her giggles. Laily cooed at the apple red cheeks of her new friend.

That was how they became best friends, to the envy of the other girls vying for the princess's attention.

Jaems held out the book to Riv, pushing his glasses up his nose with his other hand. She took it with a puzzled face shot at her Appa's direction. "Since you are going to her birthday tonight, I figured you could pass this onto her tonight at the ball." Jaems pointed out, folding his arms behind his back. Looking at the clock on the wall, he noted the time. "Which you should be getting ready to go to soon. I seem to remember you had an order to pick up from the seamstress down the street, hmm?"

Riv flushed before she glanced at the time on the wall. Her face paled a bit in dread. "Oh no! I've got to go, Appa. I'm going to be late! The gates close soon." Stepping closer on her tiptoes, Riv kissed her father on the cheek and dashed away.

Riv grabbed her bag once more, throwing it over her shoulder and shoving the book into the bag. She kept running, already reaching back into her pouches for her hoverboard. Throwing it into the air as soon as she hit the stone steps in the front of the castle, the copper haired girl snatched the board out of the air with the capsule. Getting on the board while running was second nature to her after all those hours of practicing tricks.

She sped out of the courtyard, startling the guards a bit at her hurry. The seamstress lived pretty close to the castle, so if she hurried she could get there and back before the gates closed. They wouldn't open again tonight until it was time for the guests to arrive. By then, she wouldn't have time to get ready.

Lavender eyes widened with delight when she spotted the seamstress's house. Riv stopped sharply in front of the entrance and snatched her board from the ground. Her skirt piece fluttered as she hurried inside. The seamstress was the best in the whole kingdom, though she was getting up in her years. But she was a kindly woman, and kept good conversation when Riv was with Laily to get her measurements.

The woman smiled at Riv, wrinkled crow's feet scrunching up around her eyes. "Ah, I was wondering when you would show up, Miss Rivetz. You are cutting it quite close." She laughed softly at her sewing pun.

Riv smiled bemusedly, but as much as she wanted to stay and chat, she was indeed cutting it quite close. "I am, aren't I? Is it ready?" She asked politely.

"Ready? It is quite finished my dear. And I would like to say that it is my masterpiece. I have made many beautiful gowns in my years, but this one is quite unique, just like the one it was made for. You are quite blessed with your friend, Her highness. I hope you like it." The seamstress held out a large plain box tied with twine.

Riv relieved the old woman of the seemingly heavy package. "Now, that's the full outfit. The dress, a shawl for some modesty, and the best heeled boots money can buy. Your friend treasures you a lot I must say." The woman smiled slyly at the flushing young woman.

"Yes, and I treasure her very much. I'm usually the one to spoil her, not the other way around though." Riv coughed into her fist to rid her cheeks of the redness.

"Now be off with ya. You're going to be late for the gate." The seamstress made shooing noises and waved her out the door.

Riv prepared to take off again, placing her board on the ground, but was interrupted by a ringing from her holo-frame. She rushed to pull it out and answer it. A young raven woman was projected into the air. Hands were styling her hair and putting makeup on her fair face, though Riv couldn't see who they belonged to. It was none other than Laily.

"Riv, where are you? Are you ready? Did you see the dress yet?" Laily shot off her questions excitedly, before making a face at a sharp tug on her hair in reprimand of moving too much.

Riv laughed at her best friend's predicament. "Just got out of the store, no, and no." The copper haired girl quipped. She was accustomed to the rapid fire speaker that was an excited Laily.

The princess got a worried look on her face. "You're running behind. The gates close soon. Oh, and Father wishes to speak to you about security measures. You are my bodyguard for the night after all. I can't believe you bested the captain of the guard in a challenge. Not that I'm complaining of course."

Riv's face turned sour at the mention of the captain of the guard. Nathien was a young and hot headed guy. He was also enamoured with the princess and pursued her often. He was allowed to because he was a lord's son, so he had the "required" status of a suitor. Nathien tended to come off as arrogant and rude, not to mention he was the controlling type. That wouldn't suit Laily at all as she was independent and hated being caged. Which was why they ended up hiding around the castle or sneaking out a lot.

"I was simply doing my duty to the court in whipping his as- *ahem* proving I would be a better protection. Not many people would expect the princess's best friend to be her bodyguard, much less a woman. They're still prejudiced like that." Riv coughed fakely to cover up what she was about to say jokingly. It still got a hearty giggle out of her friend.

Riv smiled and chuckled herself. It was always a sure way to improve their moods, making fun of Nathien that is.

"Well, you better hurry. I've kept you too long. The gates close in less than five minutes. I know how fast you can go, but please be careful. It's getting dark and it's hard to see your overalls in the dark." Laily gave her a concerned frown, worried about her safety with it getting dark. Riv smiled at her friend and gave a cocky smirk that spoke of confidence.

"Aww, don't worry yourself too much. I'm the best hoverboarder in the kingdom, remember? A three to five minute ride to the gates ain't nothing compared to the Boarder's Competition." Riv boasted. She wasn't normally cocky, but it tended to appear in moments of nervousness or stress. It was a bit of a coping mechanism, if not a facade.

Laily giggled at the posturing and nodded at the red head. "Well, get going. You only have a little bit of time. If you're not here in time, I will personally find you myself and drag you back screaming and kicking if I have to."

Riv scratched her cheek, sticking her tongue out between her teeth. "Yes, Mom." The raven haired princess chuckled and waved into the camera of her holo-frame and ended the call. Riv closed the holo-frame and shoved it back into her bag. Slipping her goggles on over her eyes, she hopped back onto and hurriedly started back to the castle.

The wind rushed past her goggles, once more whipping her hair back and forth. She could see the gates from where she was speeding up the street, no hoverers on it so far, thankfully. Her eyes widened, as she watched the drawbridge start closing. Leaning forward on the board Riv sped up and the wind started howling in her ears. She must have looked like a fiery blur to any pedestrians.

She was almost there!

Bright light blinded her and she had to close her eyes against it. Riv opened her eyes and was horrified and startled, literally a deer in the headlights. A large hauling hoverer was headed straight for her. She leaned back in an attempt to slow down her board, but it was no use.

It was all a blur, as she threw her arms up in front of her to brace for impact. There was screeching of grinding gears of the brakes that would have made her grimace if she weren't the cause of them, a ringing making itself known. Riv felt no pain from being hit, as strange as it was. Instead, it felt like she was falling through time, everything slowing down around her until everything stop moving and then everything went black.

* * *

So real quick, an explanation of the setting. Skyryn is a dystopian society that is heavy steampunk with it literally being a futuristic and advanced floating city in the sky if you didn't already get that. A catastrophic event happened on the surface that separated the Highlings and Gaiads, the Highlings leaving the surface while the Gaiads stayed out of stubbornness and their profound connection with the earth. As such plants and animals are rare in a way that only nobility has access to them, except for the birds that fly about the city and the random stray. There are a couple of public parks and ponds, but they are mostly concrete as the plants have a hard time surviving in the altitude they are at without being in a green house, which as said before, only nobles have access to. It really is mostly a futuristic and advanced world with 18th and 19th century politics and social ladders (where the Victorian and steampunk comes in).

As for the names, well Laily is the same thing as Lily, but with the steampunk influence. The same with Jaems, Renaeger, Malinye, Kenry, and Nathien being derived from common names as well (James, Jaeger [Jaegerman being the Germanic last name of a good friend of mine], Malia, Henry, and Nathan respectively of course). Riv (or her last name Rivetz) is slightly modeled after Rosie the Riveter, being mechanically inclined. For people who actually bother to read this stuff at the top and bottom, I will tell you her full name if you pm me, along with her concept art.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please Review as it keeps the story rolling and makes me want to keep writing. -Tai-chan 0.0


	2. Question, Why is it talking?

**Question, Why is it talking?**

Curious eyes looked upon the being that had landed in it's glade, just within a short walk of it's home. The beast held itself on cautious black paws and slowly stalked forward. It had heard of beasts like this one from it's mother and from other passing animals in its territories.

Small ears not good for hearing much and not even pointed like those other beast similar to them. Fur that was only on their heads did nothing to keep them warm or protected. Instead they wore other animals' pelts as their own to protect themselves and something that he had heard from the birds. Modesty, was it? Some had fur on their face but only males, never female like this one.

Her fur was a bright copper red, very close to the color of his own fur. The pelts she wore were odd, they didn't smell of animal skin or fur, instead smelling like the fluffy white plants that sometimes sprouted by the forest's edge. They also had something strange smelling staining it, one scent being acrid and made him sneeze, but another that was soothing and homely, smelling like the purple flower bush outside his burrow.

The female was unconscious on her side, but still breathing steadily. A bag, at least that's that he thought it was, laid out next to her with it's contents strone out about the ground. The curious beast skirted the body to sniff at a long shiny board that was unlike he had seen before. It had the same acrid scent that the female carried, but it was slightly stronger. It also smelled like dirt and the wind. Strange.

A branch snapped behind him, the beast's fur standing on end. He whipped his pointed muzzle around and narrowed his green eyes in the direction the sound came from. Large ears swiveled to listen more intently to the forest. The birds were still chirping, though those were far off. The birds in the trees above had gone silent. It was something that was natural to the forest, but it was hunting.

He glanced back at the female, suddenly hesitant. He should leave, let the female deal with whatever it was on her own, but something stopped him. Something about this one female was special, though he had no idea why. He stayed.

The bushes rustled, a growl coming from it, the leaves moving to show a snarling muzzle full of crooked teeth, spotted fur that was matted with blood, and yellowed eyes locked onto him and roving over the female. The beast snarled back, crouched down defensively. The warg licked over its teeth, appreciative of the unexpected meal it had found. Female Man was a delicacy that was not often without its difficulties to hunt. It glanced at the fuzzy little critter growling at it in warning, protectively standing in front of her. It would make a good appetizer, but it wasn't looking forward to the bits of red fur stuck in it's teeth.

The beast puffed himself out bigger, his red fur bristling as he growled at the warg. There was no way he could win this fight and live to tell the tale to his fellow beasts, but for her, he would try. The warg leaped forward to bite down upon the beast's throat, but the critter was too fast for him, darting backward and countering with a swipe across the wargs left eye.

It howled in pain and anger, the claws raked across his eye were sharp knives that cut and blinded him. The warg growled in rage that it had been crippled in such a way by something so much weaker than itself. It lunged forward again, this time clamping down on the critters hind leg as it tried to evade once more.

The beast snarled in pain as sharp needle teeth sunk into its right hind leg and writhed around in its jaws. The teeth clamped down harder causing the beast to squeal in pain and turned enough to sink its jaws into the wargs other eye. The warg yelped feeling the razor teeth destroy his other eye. The warg shook its captive with jerky movement and when it felt the teeth slip from it's hold and let go of the critter to swing it.

The beast yelped as it was thrown from the warg's jaws and into a tree. The landing winded the beast and it gasped for the lost air, vision of the warg prowling closer with its eyes bloody blurred. The warg turned to the annoyance, unable to see it with its eyes torn up, but it could hear it and smell it. It had been weakened greatly with the throw and now it was unable to fight back.

The warg lunged forward for the last time, readying to sinks it teeth into the beast's throat. The beast closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate. A loud howl echoed throughout the forests along with a loud noise the lands had never heard before.

It was dark and cool. No one existed except her, her body floating and feeling as if it were not there. Then there was a light. It was a pale green pin prick of gentle light off to the right of her. It was soothing and warm in the cold abyss.

"Child... Child of ^%#&#^!... You have been called. You have been summoned. You are important. Become the guide we know you are. You will have to choose, and only you may wish it so. Seal your fate Child of ^%$#%$!." The light flickered as a voice spoke through the abyss.

It faded in and out of different places, voices giving into other voices. It was garbled in other places, a static she could not understand. She was Here and yet she was not. She only understood in a way a child understood the sky was blue, but not always was it so.

"Gifts you have been given and those gifts shall reveal themselves to you in time. Use them wisely." The light faded from the darkness, once more leaving only her to exist within the darkness. She drifted once more, nothing mattering. Then she grew heavy and fell. She fell for an eternity and slammed back into reality.

A gasp of air and Lavender Eyes opened.

Riv came back to herself in a rush, the sounds, the smells, the sights, and the feeling. It was like a tidal wave that slammed into her, causing her to groan and shut her eyes once more to shelter herself from the onslaught of sensory overload. Yelps of pain and roars and growls of anger reached her ears and alarmed her. Forcing her eyes open, Riv twisted up quickly towards the commotion.

A great ugly beast had its jaws wrapped around something that was red and still alive from the sound of its yelping and shaking it. It suddenly roared as the animal seemed to have sunk its fangs into the beast's face and threw it into a tree. The poor creature screeched in pain and stopped moving except for its ribs moving frantically, gasping for air. With the two beasts not moving as much she could get a good look at them.

The ugly one looked similar to gigantic hyenas she had seen in the library, but mostly in body. It face was grotesque and did not match it's body, as if someone had experimented on it by mixing a matching various heads. It was bleeding profusely from its eyes and its muzzle fur was matted with its own and the creature's blood.

The creature in question was actually a red fox. It's fur was a similar color to her own hair and she couldn't see it's eyes from here, but it was in pain, she knew that much.

Riv had no time to observe further as the warg lunged at the fox, going in for the kill. The copper haired woman acted on instinct, going through the motions of drawing her weapon. Pop. Aim. Fire.

A loud bang that sounded similar to a firework going off rang throughout the forest, scaring many of inhabitants of the forest. The following dying howl was blood curdling. The sound would only be the first of many the land would hear.

The warg fell to the ground in a heap, blackish blood soaking the ground around it. Riv panted harshly as she stared wide eyed at the dead beast, her specialized revolver still smoking and aimed at the warg. Oh dear, she felt a bit faint. That wasn't training, she had actually killed something living, even if it was in self defense or defense of others. Shakily, she lowered the gun when the beast was sure not to move and slumped onto the ground to catch her breath.

Riv laid there coming to terms of what she had had to do. It was animal. Just an animal. _But what if it had been an human? Another living being that was intelligent and at least had some kind of feelings? Would you have been able to do the same thing?_ She pushed away her thoughts. They could be dealt with at another time.

The mechanic picked herself off the ground and looked around. Now that she wasn't in battle mode, she observed her surroundings. It made no sense to her whatsoever. She was in a forest, or at least a place with a bunch of trees, which hello was a _forest_ , she berated herself. But that was just it. Skyryn had no forests.

It was a floating rock with a cramped city on top of it, there was no way a forest could grow on it, not to mention how they would survive in such a high altitude, with the angle of the sun and what not. They could get plenty of air, since humans themselves could live up in the high altitude. It had something to do to the closeness and the angle of the sun, but she didn't know how as she wasn't particularly interested in plant biology. Just the basics, for medicinal and edibility purposes, which back then would not have been very useful. However, it looks like she would be flexing her numerous areas of knowledge that she hadn't known she would need.

The fox caught her attention once more as it was now looking at her, but still lying down. It seemed to be waiting for her to do something. Riv started to approach it cautiously, not wanting to spook the poor thing half to death and make it hurt itself even further. It had a small, but deep gash in its back leg, blood soaking its red fur turning it a bit brown.

Riv knelt down next the critter and reached out the place a hand on its side. "It's okay. You're going to be just fine. You sure a brave little fellow to take on a.. a.. a whatever that was. It was five times bigger than you are." Riv felt a bit stupid talking to an animal. It's not like they could understand each other.

"That was a warg. You must have a pretty cushy life if you don't know what a warg is. And of course I'll be fine. Tis only a flesh wound." The voice was sarcastic and was coming from the fox. Why was the fox talking?

Riv froze looking at the fox and gaping at it. What happened next she would deny for the rest of her life and take it to her grave. She screamed like a girl, high pitched and shrill.

The fox jolted and whipped its head around. "What, What? Is it another one of those bastards? Speak girl, speak!" Riv just kept her wide eyes on the fox as it seemed to bark at her. Well now that she thought about it, he was barking, yipping really, but she understood all that yipping and barking. Did she hit her head? How hard did she have to hit it in order to hallucinate?

"I've finally cracked. Appa told me all the those hoverer fumes and all that gas would go to my head. I should have listened, but no I had to be a stubborn bitch." Riv rambled hysterically and turned to discomboguitively crawl toward her bag that was still on the ground behind her.

"Hey! Hey, girl! What are you talking about? Are you okay, you're talking nonsense!" the fox was continuing the to speak to her.

"No, no, I'm not listening to you. You're not speaking to me and I'm not understanding you. I've gone barking mad, off my rocker, bloody starkers." Riv shook her head in denial, hands trembling as she slapped herself, trying to prove to herself it was all just a dream. Her hand stilled on her red cheek. That hurt.

Was she really losing her mind? Why couldn't it have just been a dream?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. Did you just say you can understand me?" Now the fox was gaping at her. Yes, let's just stare at her like the bloody nut she is. Is it bad if her hallucinations start thinking she's completely crazy too?

"What do you think? That I started screaming about the air? I can understand you and I'm not dreaming, as much as I want to be right now." Riv said sarcastically, while giving up with a mumbled sigh. Well if you can't beat em, join em and make the best of the, messed up, situation. She'd have her freak out later.

Ignoring the talking fox for now, she turned back to where she woke up to the fight. Her white hoverboard was innocently laying next to her bag that had the contents strewn about, random capsules, an extra pair of gloves, a small tool kit, her holo-frame, and the green book that had been tossed to the edge of the clearing.

Riv crawled to her bag and started looking through the spewed capsules. It should be one of these… "Hey, girl! Come on, talk to me! I'm still here you know." Riv closed her eyes and prayed for whatever deity could hear her to give her patience. "I really wish you weren't. It would have made things less confusing and mind boggling, but unfortunately, life rarely works that way." Riv retorted with her eyes still closed.

"Oh, good. You don't have any head problems from what I can see. And, I resent that. Is that how you show gratitude to someone who saved your life?" The fox rambled behind her saucily with a small sniff.

Riv snorted in reply, "Saved my life? From my point of view it looked like you were getting torn to shreds and I was the one to save your life after I shot that - _warg-_ in the head." Aha! Found it! Riv held a red colored capsule in her hand with a victorious smile.

"Well, no one else was going to stop you from being dinner for a smelly entrail eater. At least I tried." The fox looked away bitterly ashamed. Riv got back up and walked over to the furry creature. Her light purple eyes softened at the embarrassed posture of the stubborn fox. "Yes, and I am grateful for that. You are very brave and have a noble heart for one so furry and small."

The fox looked back to her in shock. No one had ever called him brave, let alone noble, quite the opposite in fact. And here he is hearing it from a female that could understand him, that should be unable to in the first place. _Back on track, focus!_ He sniffed and tried to look unaffected, but he couldn't help but feel a bit shy at the praise and his cheeks under his fur felt too warm.

Riv hid her chuckle at the fox's change in demeanor at the complement. It seems it - _he_ \- wasn't used to it. She pressed the button on top of the capsule and it popped, pink smoke furling out quickly, startling a yip out of fox. "What in the- What is that!?" Riv gave him a mischievous grin. "Something I invented. It's called a capsule and it holds stuff that is bigger than I can carry at one time I guess you could say. It makes everything I have a lot lighter too, since I've adjusted the mass converters and things like-. Annnddd you don't understand one word I'm saying do you?"

The fox looked to be confused with the entire talk of mass converters and what was mass anyways? "No, not one bit. But I'll trust you know what your talking about. What was with all the pink clouds of smoke?" The red creature shook its head to clear the noise and clutter from its mind. Riv's cheeks pinked up at the mention of the pink smoke, a finger coming up to rub under her nose, head turning away to hide some of it.

"Th-that's something I haven't gotten around to yet. I haven't been able to figure out what causes it to do that yet."The last part was murmured under her breath, but the fox could still hear her, though decided to politely not point that out even with the sly grin on his face. This female was interesting.

Riv coughed into her fist, unsuccessfully trying to rid herself of her blush and picked up the case that had popped out of the capsule. It was a bright orange medi-case with a white cross on the lid and white clamps to hold it shut. Opening it, Riv grabbed the disinfectant and white gauze-y cotton balls. "This is going to sting a bit, but it'll clean it up. Then I should be able to use the healing pod for quicker recovery. It's not really made for animals, so I don't know how much it'll do for you, but it should hopefully do enough," She explained as she dabbed a cotton ball with the rubbing alcohol.

The redhead glanced at the fox and warned him, "Take a deep breath and brace yourself. It'll feel better after I'm done." The fox gave the cotton ball a wary glance and did as she said. Riv lightly dabbed at the gashes on the fox's back leg, but jumped when he snarled at the pain.

Oooohhhh, owwww. She wasn't kidding. Whatever was on that fluffy thing stung like wasp stingers. The fox let out a pained whine as she continued her work, his furry head dropping like a stone on top of his black front paws. The cold numbness that set into the wounds after she finished with them wasn't too bad though.

It took her six cotton balls and a lot of careful manipulation of the fox's leg to get everything, but she finally managed it. Riv tossed the cotton balls into a bush to get rid of them (they would eventually melt into the earth since they were biodegradable. She tried her best to stay green.) and put the disinfectant away. The fox was calmly laying there, fluffy tail swishing gently back and forth every once in awhile.

"Okay, little buddy, let's see if the healing pod will do you any good." Riv commented as she pulled out a remote looking device. It was small, fitting perfectly in the palm of her hand, and shaped like an egg almost. She pressed a button on top of the device and a light blue keypad was projected from a small opening in it.

The fox watched curiously since he had never seen anything like it nor had he heard of something like this from any of the other animals. Riv typed in 'lacerations and punctures wounds' on the keypad, which immediately disappeared and the device beeped. "Hold still and let it do its job. Hopefully you won't have any lasting side effects." She held the device above the injured leg and pointed it at the center of the numerous wounds.

A blue light shone down from the remote and the injuries started to glow. Slowly the gashes and punctures from the warg's teeth knitted themselves together, the tissues mending themselves. The fox watched in disturbed awe as he saw his own leg heal right before his eyes. Finally, the light diminished and the device beeped again and shut off, going dark once more.

Gently, Riv felt around the places where the wounds used to be, but all that remained was slightly puckered and new scars. "Well, looks like it healed most of the damage, but it wasn't able to do anything about the scarring. How do you feel? Any aches or pain, twinging?" Riv asked as she picked up the furry critter under and around his chest to hold him up to her face.

The fox made a funny looking expression as he wriggled his back feet that were dangling in midair. "Nope. Doesn't feel like it got ripped to shreds at all even. Though I think I'm a bit sore." The fox yipped in joy and wiggled around some more to be put down. The redheaded girl placed the fox on his paws and watched as he gingerly stretched out his back legs.

The little beast ran, walked, jumped and rolled around the clearing to test his limits. Riv got up off the ground and dusted herself off, grabbing the case as the little fox zipped past her in a blur of red fur. While the little devil rushed about the glade, she picked up her stuff, stashing the strewn contents back into her bag and closing it up tight.

The fox trotted up to her panting happily from it's little workout and sat in front of her knees where she was knelt on the ground. "So, what's a clueless female human doing out here? Humans rarely enter this forest and you were just passed out without a care in the world." Riv furrowed her brows and scowled worriedly.

"You see, I don't know how I got here. I was on my way back to the palace for my best friend's birthday party and then I remember a really bright light and everything went black. I can't remember much past that, it's so blurry. I feel like I should know, but more importantly this place… there's no where like this back where I live. It's all big buildings and there's almost no trees or grass or much naturewise except in the gardens." Riv explained the best she could. _Probably doesn't really understand what exactly I'm talking about. I know I'm missing something, but what? Did I hit my head hard enough to give myself partial amnesia?_

The fox sighed and started scratching at an itch behind his ear, "Well, I'm not really sure what happened to you either. I came across you while I was checking my territory all sprawled out and dead to the world. Yavanna knows what got you here," The fox straightened out, sitting up on his haunches. "As for what you are describing, 'buildings', I'm not too sure what you mean by those, but I guess that's what you humans call your dens or something like that. There is one of the things you two-legs call a 'road' to an elf settlement not far from here. It's past my territory though."

Riv tilted her head in confusion. "Elves? There's no such thing." She stated factly. The fox gave her a weird look, like she was the stupid one. "Wow, you sure are clueless. Of course there's elves. Pointy eared, really tall two-legs that live forever. There's dwarves, elves, though those two races don't seem to like each other from what I've heard from a couple of my sources, and humans. There's also other two-legs called orcs, but those are bad news and kill anything they come across. That thing you killed? That's a warg, pets and killing beasts of the orcs. Where there are wargs, orcs aren't too far behind. Not to mention the wizards that roam around."

Riv's head was spinning from all the information, ridiculous information, that she was being told by a talking fox of all things. If she hadn't been fully convinced of her insanity, she sure was now. It sounded like she had like she had been dropped into a fairytale!

 _Alright, I need someone other than a fox to explain all this, perhaps with some insight to what in the hell is going on!_ Riv gave the fox a hesitant look before asking, "Would you be able to show me to the road? I've no clue what to do other than seek out someone that may have answers, but I don't know the forest as you seem to do." The little fox puffed out with pride at her unintentional compliment. He had never really got one before since most animals seemed to loathe him for being a fox.

"I do know this part of the forest better than most other animals. Actually, now that I think about it, a wizard usually visits the elves pretty regularly, so with any luck you could probably meet him. If a wizard can't help you I don't know who can." he replied surely. Riv nodded and stood up from kneeling, brushing the grass stuck to her knees gently. "After you then." she gestured towards the forest easily.

The fuzzy orange vulpine flicked his tail in motion for her to follow and sauntered through the shrubs. "Keep up, it's going to take a bit to get there."


	3. We're off to see the elves

(Edited 7/5/17)

 **Chapter 3: We're off to see the elves (And hopefully a wizard of Arda)**

Dappled sunlight fell on copper hair, making it gleam like fire. Riv and the fox had been traveling for a while now, but she still couldn't make heads or tails of where she was. All the bushes and trees looked the same to her, but she did see a couple of good climbing ones. Not that she would be any good at it, no way. What would the Royal Archivist's daughter be doing climbing and hiding in the courtyard trees after all?

The fox looked up from where he was trotting alongside her feet. "So, human, you said you were on your way to your friend's birthday party? What's that?" Riv glanced down at the critter before continuing to look forward as not to trip. "Well, birthday party is a celebration of the day you were born. Most err, two-legs I guess you call them, celebrate them. I don't know anything about these other races and their customs, but it's probably safe to assume they do too."

Riv scanned the area, carefully monitoring her surroundings. Didn't want another one of those warg things attacking them unawares. Although she had taken precautions and tucked one of the throwing daggers she had stashed away in one of her capsules in her belt. She wasn't as good with them as a gun, but she had some skill and she didn't want to waste any bullets in a place she had no way of replacing them as far as she knew. Not that she didn't make her own bullets anyways.

"Oh, the day of kitting, then. Yeah, we animals have our own customs about that, but we only celebrate it twice. Once when they are born and then again when they come of age. It's different

for each animal and they call it something different to, like the birds for instance. They call it the eggeves." The fox huffed, jumping over a small log in their path. Riv stepped over it carefully. If she wasn't careful she would take a header. Unfortunately, she got really clumsy when she was spaced out or otherwise occupied, unless of course she was on her hoverboard. Nothing to trip on when your cruising above the ground.

There was rustle of the tree branches above them causing the fox to stop and peer up at the leaves suspiciously. Riv stopped with him and cautiously looked up as well. "Something the matter?" The fox shook his furry head back and forth, but his ears stayed pinned back. "Just paranoia. That stupid warg has got my fur standing on end and me jumping at every little noise." Riv gave him a skeptical look, not believing him entirely.

The two kept moving forward, though they kept their silence as they listened to the wind in the trees. Another rustle above them, louder this time and the movement had twigs and leaves raining down on the pair. "Hey!" Riv complained as she covered her head with her hands, and glared up at the branches with one squinted eye.

"Well, well, well. This is a rare sight. The fox has come out of hiding and is actually outside his normal territory. Sure are brave for a fox." A disembodied voice called out from the branches above them. Riv swung her head around trying to glimpse whoever it was that was speaking. "Show yourself!"

The fox growled, "No need. I know who it is. Come out where we can see you, Featherbrain!" A large shadow descended from the canopy to settle on a branch closer to the ground. It was a falcon, a peregrine falcon in specific actually. A female with bluish wings and a white underbelly and sharp black talons curled around the branch she was perched on. Observant black eyes narrowed at Riv, before they lazily drifted back to the fox.

"What do you want, bird?" The fox bared his teeth at the bird that was almost the same size as he was. "There's quite a bit of noise in the forest right now. And you're right in the center of it, fox. Along with your female two leg." The furry creature sat down with a snort. "Like I care what those busybodies say. And what goes on around me is my business, not theirs. Why do you care anyways?"

The blueish colored bird narrowed her gaze at the sitting fox. "You know exactly why I've concerned myself, fox. Whether you like it or not. I thought I would be kind enough to inform you that I spotted another pack of the hideous two legs heading towards where you just came from." The falcon turned her feathered head to gaze in the direction of where they had just come from.

The fox visibly looked startled, throwing an apprehensive look over his furry shoulder. He quickly stood back up and trotted over to Riv to stand behind her and start physically nudging the back of her knees with his head. "Well, if that's the case we really should be going. Good to see you again, bird, but I've got to get this two leg to the eleven path and out of here." Riv started walking forwards with the urging of the fox and a questioning glance at the falcon.

Riv looked to the beast guiding her along and then back to the female bird still watching them, locking gazes with her. The bird seemed to puff out her feathers in a sigh before launching herself off the branch she had perched on and glided towards the human female.

There was a quiet slice of feathers through air before they fluttered loudly as she descended to the human female's shoulder. The fox jumped back incredulously as he watched the falcon land on the human female's shoulder. Riv jumped slightly as she felt sharp talons scrape her left shoulder and a slightly heavy weight land there with a rustle of feathers. Thankfully, the talons only lightly dug into her shoulder, not even piercing through her white t-shirt.

The bird gentle shifted her weight to make herself comfortable on Riv's shoulder, tail feathers shaking out slightly. The fox was the first to speak, or yelp really. "What do you think you're doing!?" The falcon turned her feathered head around to pin the reddish creature with a look. "What's it look like? Coming with you. I'm interested in how a human, female no less, came to the forest without any of the border creatures spotting her. Not to mention the get an explanation of the dead warg back there."

Riv's brought a gloved hand up to her mouth to smother an amused smile at the look of ignant annoyance on her companion's furry face. "We don't have time to carry your feathery behind along with us. Go bother one of your nestmates!" The fox shouted with bristling hackles. The falcon just simply turned her head around to face her living perch, ignoring the complaints of the four legged creature.

"So, how does a female human two leg end up out here, nearly in the middle of the forest?" she asked with a curious eye. Riv smiled at her new animal companion and replied, "I honestly have no idea. The place I come from is much different from here, not much as much green and even less animals, other than highlings of course. I was heading back to my home for the celebration of my friend's birthday … er, eggeves, I guess as you call it, when I remember a bright light and the sensation of falling, then total darkness. Everything around that is blurry or just blank, but I woke up in a clearing to a whole bunch of snarling."

Riv gestured gently to the silently fuming fox muttering under his breath, "Our cheerful friend here was fighting off something called a warg, or at least that was what he called it. To me it looked like an overgrown hyena that had had its face smashed in. Where I'm from, these wargs, or even the elves or whatever these 'orcs' are, don't exist. I really don't understand it."

Riv gently maneuvered around a large rock that was blocking the path, clambering over the slightly rocky area as carefully as she could without dislodging her passenger. "I killed the wag before it could eat him, and patched him up so he wouldn't bleed out everywhere. He really saved my life, I owe him for that." She announced with a soft, fond look at the fox.

The falcon turned her attention to the now embarrassed fox whose ears were plastered to the side's of his head. "Well, aren't we the hero, fox. I can't decided if it was out of sheer nerve or stupidity." The fox sneered up at her, "Well, I didn't see anyone else stepping up to help her, bird! What was I supposed to do, let her get eaten?" The falcon shuffled her wings irritably, giving the fox her best glare.

Sensing the sudden hostility, Riv hastily asked, "Why do you call each other 'fox' or 'bird'? Don't you have names?" The fox's attention was diverted by the question shifting his sneer into something a bit more curious as he looked to Riv. "Name? Like a title?" The falcon was the one to answer. "No, we don't have names like you two legs do. We are given simple designations, like Hatchling, or Nestmate, so on and so forth. It's different for each creature group. " The fox had a look of understanding on his face as he came to realize what exactly they were talking about.

Riv furrowed her thin eyebrows together. "Doesn't that get confusing if there more than one of you?" The fox slipped around a gnarled tree root with ease as he replied "It can be, but certain creature groups don't get together very often, especially since they can get very territorial. 'Names' are usually only used during things like mating seasons or when you're young." Riv raised an eyebrow at that and crossed her arms. "Well I refuse to be continued to be called 'female human' or anything like that. My name is Riv." The fox's tail swished contemplatively as he tested it out. "Riv? Like a river?" One of the teeneager's hands came up to rub at the back of her neck, "Well I guess you could look at it that way. It's my nickname, since my real name is too long and too girly for me."

"Nickname? What's a nickname?" The falcon asked with a tilted head. "Oh, well, a nickname is something friends give each other or its another name you go by for whatever reason." The falcon chirruped quietly, her version of a hum, as she absorbed the information. "Speaking of which, would you two mind if I gave you nicknames? It'd be to awkward for me if I was just addressing you guys as 'Hey, you, fox' or 'I'm talking to you, bird'." Riv finished spastically waving her hands about.

The female falcon nodded as she resettled on the flailing human's shoulder, "If that will help you address us." The fox just grumpily muttered his okay. Looking up into the leafy canopy, Riv thought about her friends' nicknames before nodding resolutely to herself. "I have just the names," looking to the feathered flyer on her shoulder, "Yours will be Kol," and glancing at the fox she smiled, "And yours will be Frei."

The newly dubbed Kol preened at her new name, seeming to like it. Frei rolled his eyes, but his happily perked ears and swishing tail gave away his pleasure at his name. The odd trio continued on in silence, with the only sounds being the life of the forest. Then it all stopped.

The newly named fox suddenly stopped in the path, ears swiveling back and twitching. Riv stiffened along with him and scanned the surroundings while Kol fluffed out her blueish gray and brown feathers.

Frei burst out of his frozen state and darted over leafy covered ground, yipping "Run!" over his shoulder. Riv gave no thought to the command and quickly followed it, tearing after Frei. Kol launched herself from Riv's shoulder, ripping her shirt and scratching her in the process, and quickly flew through the canopy and fell back to get a good look at the cause of the swift movement.

Her sharp eyes caught movement a small ways away from her friends. It was the pack of hideous two legs she had mentioned earlier, but the group they were in was larger than she had ever seen in the sunlight. They usually only hunted in pairs or lonesomes during the day, but this was a large pack of about eight two legs and two other wargs. Black eyes narrowed before wings tucked closer to a blueish body as Kol sped up towards the two copper colored blurs that flashed from her view point above the trees.

Kol burst through the branches with a shower of leaves and a screech, evening her wings out to glide swiftly along side Riv. "It's those hideous two legs! They're gaining quickly, but you're almost to the path!" She screeched above the wind. Riv kicked her feet up harder in response, arms pumping harder as she leaned more forwards, jumping around stray rocks and fallen branches.

Her sense felt like they had kicked into overdrive, colors sharpened to a blurring degree, the sound of her feet pounding against the ground almost in time with her thundering heartbeat, and the feel of her chest rising and falling faster as she panted for breath. Something went whizzing past her face, nearly causing her to stumble as she saw it plant it self into a tree just to her right. A black arrow. "Shit!"

More projectiles seemed to lose themselves after her after the first one. Riv started to bob and weave, making herself a harder target to hit. Kol quickly ascended above the treetops to avoid being shot down. Riv tried to go faster when she realized that the trees were getting a bit thinner. "We're almost there, keep going!" It was Frei that time, yipping as he dodged around forest overgrowth.

Riv suddenly pitched forward with a scream. An arrow had grazed her side, but thankfully it didn't pierce through and just shallowly cut her side. Riv whipped her head back to see how close her pursuers were to her and caught sight of the orcs. Frei had skidded in an attempt to not lose Riv in a cloud of dust to yap impatiently at her. "Hurry up! Your going to end up orc fodder in a minute!" Her eyes widened and she decided not to stick around.

"Sheesh, now I know why you call them hideous two legs! Those guys have some gnarly faces!" Riv called out to her companions to get a hysterical sound of choked laughter from Frei. Her side throbbed each time she took a pounding step as she continued to flee, but she had no time to rest. Finally the trees thinned out into something like a barely definable path, that Frei took a sharp left onto and kept running.

Riv followed behind closely, narrowly dodging another black arrow that flew over her head. "I'm assuming this is the elven path you were talking about! What do we do now!?" Riv yelled frantically, taking a glance over her shoulder. The orc pack was gaining on them.

"I hadn't actually planned that far ahead, except for following it in the direction of the elves." Frei answered sheepishly, breath labored. Riv could have face palmed if she wasn't running for her life. "And I hadn't planned on following a talking fox being pursued by angry and hideous orcs on the way to find elves to help me!" Riv yelped, glancing over her shoulder.

Riv squeaked as the orcs seemed to be hot on their asses. She put more kick into her already fast pace, the wargs almost snapping at her heels. Riv's eyes widened as she realized exactly what she could do to buy them some time. Keeping a careful eye on her surrounding, Riv started to rummage a gloved hand through her large back pouch on her belt. "Aha!"

The copper haired pulled out a capsule that had a hot pink line around its circumference. Pressing the button on the top she twisted around to throw it at the pursuing enemies. "Take that, bastards!" The ensuing chaos was beautiful.

The capsule upon hitting the ground exploded in a great thick pink cloud of smoke. Angry screeching rung out through the air followed by snarling wargs. "What in the world did you just do!?" Kol yelled over the wind rushing past them. "One of my specialties, a pink smoke bomb. That should give us some time and hopefully catch some friendly attention. I can fight, but that's way too many for me to take on by myself." Riv followed Frei and Kol as they continued racing down the path.

"Well, hopefully these friendlies notice soon, that smoke is already disappearing." Frei yipped. Riv glanced over her shoulder only to jerk her head to right as an arrow flew pat her head. "Oh my god, that was too close for comfort! Jerk!" A screech made her whip her head back around just in time to see Kol spiral towards the ground.

Riv had just enough time to dive and catch her before the falcon hit the ground. The oranged haired woman somersaulted to absorb the impact of the dive. "Riv!" Frei skidded to a stop, turned to look at the woman crouching with a wounded Kol held close to her chest. Riv took off running again without a glance backwards.

She couldn't keep running for much longer. While she had pretty good stamina from the acrobatics she used in her gun training, she didn't have infinite energy. Unfortunately, it looks like the choice was taken from as she failed to completely clear the branch she had been jumping over.

Riv tucked in close around Kol to protect her from any of the fall and rolled a good couple feet before stopping.

The world was spinning as she sat up, trying to continue her get away. However it was not to be as the orc pack had finally gained on her and the two wargs started circling her and growling. "Well, well, well. A Woman all alone in the forest. Looks like we'll be eating good tonight." An orc smiled cruelly at her, the other five of his pack laughing with cruel enjoyment.

Riv sneered at the orc in front of her, curled defensively on the ground. Kol was chattering angrily in her arms, her uninjured wing flapping wildly. "I say we eat the appetizer first, and have a little fun with her before we eat her. The feisty ones are always the most fun to break." Another orc stated, licking his lips as he boldly stepped forward.

Suddenly a bush nearby was a flurry of movement as Frei darted out of them and around the orc that had stepped forward. Frei skinned off part of the orc's leg with his claws, causing him to holler at the surprise pain, as he skidded past to take a defensive position in front of his injured friends. The fox snarled at them angrily to warn them off. "What do we have here? Another appetizer and pair of boots it looks like." One of the orcs to the side laughed at his pack mate's pain with a mocking sneer. Another blur shot from the trees towards an orc.

"Urk!" The orc fell to his knees with an arrow straight through his throat with a gurgle of black blood. Immediately the orc who seemed to be the leader of the pack started barking orders as they all drew their swords to face the unknown assailant.

Frei's nose started twitching as his ears tried to find the movement of the third party. Bright amber eyes widened as he turned to the woman who was whipping her head around trying to find whoever it was helping them. "Elves!"

Riv's own lavender eyes widened at the furry creature in front of her. Thank god for miracles, because she honesty had thought they were goners. Another orc was felled by an arrow straight through the eye and fell directly by where Riv had uncurled from her defensive ball. She made a face at the gruesome sight, but did not hesitate to poke at it with her the tip of her boot to push it away some. That was just gross.

Finally the orcs and Riv got their first look at their third party as a blonde man launched himself out of his hiding spot to take down the orc closest to him with a sword. Another man also charged out from his hiding spot, this one dark brunette with a bow slung across his chest and back, skewering another one on his sword. The warg that had been behind Riv suddenly let out a dying scream causing her to whip her head around at the noise. Another man with raven hair had killed it from where he rode atop a horse. An old man in mostly grey clothing carrying a long staff and long sword, one in each hand, dispatched the other warg as it charged him.

Riv started discreetly inching away from the battle, intending to get into a more defensible position seeing how vulnerable she was at the moment. Frei was right beside her, copying her movements as they carefully inched away from the battle zone.

The blond man was in combat with two of three that had managed to stay alive in the ambush, easily parrying their blows as he tried to create an opening. One more orc was slain with a brutal blow across his abdomen by the man as he then concentrated on the other orc. The leader of the orcs ran up, prepared to strike him from behind. The brunet man spun around quickly to try to cover his comrade, but was too late.

The blond man quickly slayed the remaining orc and turned to look behind him as a body hit the ground. There was a single throwing dagger embedded in the side of the leader's head. He followed the path from the dagger to the young woman who was on the ground. Riv had seen the orc trying to get one in on the man and hadn't even thought about snatching the dagger out of her belt and throwing it at the orcs head. Luckily it hit.

Riv sighed out a breath of relief and gently shifted Kol in her arms. Frei had sat on his hind quarters and was observing the new arrivals with a wary look, tail swaying back and forth. The brunet man was the first to slowly approach her.

Riv raised a coppery eyebrow and shifted towards Frei a little bit. They may have saved her, but that didn't quite buy her trust just yet. "It is not everyday that I save such a strange young lady from a pack of orcs." The man remarked as he knelt down in front of her, eyeing Frei a tad warily. Riv was able to see him better, from his stormy blue-gray eyes and unkempt beard to his now sheathed sword.

"Strange? Now what would give you that idea?" Riv snarked in reply with a quirk of her lips. The man seemed to be amused by her sarcasm and offered her his hand to help her stand up as he did just that. Riv hesitated, but clasped his forearm to help herself up. By the expression on his face he wasn't expecting to pull herself up without much of his help.

His expression changed quickly into one of concern as Riv stumbled into him with a pained hiss as the hand not holding Kol shot to her side. The orange haired woman grimaced as her vision blurred out a bit with her lightheadedness. Twisting ever so slowly, Riv caught a glimpse of the crimson that was now staining the left side of her white t-shirt. Oh, great. This was one of her only pure white shirts she had left and blood was so hard to remove.

Riv started to sag in the man's grip as she started to black out for the second time in less than what she suspected was 12 hours. What was it about today that made her such a damsel in distress? The man was shouting to his companions and she could barely make out what he was saying over the ringing in her ears.

"...injured!... arrow… probably poisoned...needs help...quickly!" She felt herself being lifted up in a princess carry and her bag being pulled from her person by another set of hands and Kol being taken with much protest judging by the screeches. Her head lulled to the side, allowing her a glimpse of Frei frantically dancing around many pairs of legs, barking up at her. The little fox was nearly stepped on a couple of times.

"Watch out… for… Frei… Don't leave… him..." A waved hand at the fox and a faint murmur was all she could muster before she went completely limp and her unusually dull purple eyes closed.

"Don't you dare die on us now, you stupid human girl!"

* * *

So I have finally got the third chapter up and running, thankfully. I'll be continuing this to the best of my ability, unfortunately, I've run about a bit of bad luck. My younger brother downloaded something on my computer that he wasn't supposed to and what ever it did gave my computer a virus that ate right through my hard drive to where it won't even boot up. Even worse, when my dad tried to fix it for me, we learned someone cut corners on assembling it so its irreparable and I have to get a new computer. So the updates are unfortunately going to slow down as I have to use my mom's computer and I only have few hours a day to do that. But have no fear, I will get the next one out as promptly as I can and I have started working on the next chapter already.

As for the talking animals, guys, yeah there's actually an entire back story behind that. It has to do with what happens in the actual story that Riv is from, since I am currently writing a dystopian fantasy novel based around the two races mentioned in the first chapter. Right now it's only in the planning stage and I am trying to design the city and work out all the kinks that come with building two entirely different civilizations. But what I've done basically is morphed the two stories by tying their pasts together in a way that completely ignore some of the past things that happen in Tolkien's scheme of things (i.e. The Silmarillion, ect.). So if your hardcore Tolkien fan and a stickler for how past events go, this is probably not the fic for you.

Please Review! 0.0 -Tai-Chan


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